


Wolves

by bizzylizzy



Series: Dogs [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Ending, Burn Everything to the Ground, End of the World, F/F, F/M, Graphic Violence, M/M, Major Character Injury, Multi, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:54:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27031504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bizzylizzy/pseuds/bizzylizzy
Summary: First there were the Uchiha, turned into Konoha's Dogs.For a time there was Itachi and Shisui.Now there are only Wolves.And they are hungry.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino, Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy, Hoshigaki Kisame/Uchiha Shisui, Previous Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Shisui
Series: Dogs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1573390
Comments: 12
Kudos: 37





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't intend to post this for a while yet, but today is the day I first posted Dogs, so it's fitting. Buckle up, we're going to burn down the world.
> 
> SERIES WARNINGS: THERE WILL BE multiple major character deaths, graphic torture psychological and physical, discussions of suicide POSSIBLY suicide, discussions of past sexual assaults, and more. We're delving into oppressive governments too guys, so be prepared for that. This is the sequel to Dogs, it's heavy. It's dark. It's a plot birthed in 2020.
> 
> THERE WILL NOT BE: sexual violence against characters. That's about all I'm gonna promise you guys.

The civil war that took down Stone felt more like a disease than a war. It was as if a cyst had gone sudden malignant, or a boil of the most deadly bacteria suddenly burst. In a matter of days, the entire village went from a powerhouse to a disaster zone, everyone so unsure of the cause as almost everyone in the village had died. The survivors were scattered, fleeing to the safety of all villages with wild tales on their tongues. Rumor had Stone's Jinchuuruki had saved and now shepherded the largest group of survivors to safety. Rumor also said that a Jinchuuruki going rogue had caused this disaster. As of yet, everything was just rumored.

Shisui surveyed the carnage with Kisame.

"That's impressive," Kisame rumbled, the low whisper more vibration than sound.

"Isn't it? My cousin certainly is talented. . ." Shisui frowned. "But why did Stone have to go?"

"There's no telling what kind of long-running plot he had going on here. Maybe it wasn't even Obito," Kisame pointed out. “There are other forces at work in the world besides the two of you.”

"How charitable of you to assume so. I'm going to assume it has to be him until proven otherwise. . ." Shisui flashed Kisame a wide, charming smile. "Fancy a stroll?"

Kisame snorted. "Some days it's easy to tell you lived in ANBU's basement."

"You tell me the sweetest things," Shisui fluttered his eyelashes and proceeded Kisame down towards the devastation of the village. Stone would never rise from these ashes. It would go the way of all other destroyed villages.

"You did have a hand in destabilizing it," Kisame added.

"Now you're giving me too much credit, darling." Shisui slid down to the next section of the destroyed ground. Stone had left a literal crater behind, divided into deeper and deeper sections. Shisui didn't know what disaster had decimated the landscape like this. There were sinkholes, mounds where large buildings had been, and everything had a scorched look. Fire had also been involved. Certain places looked like they had been crushed under extreme force. It looked like stone had melted or burned in others.

"This," Kisame said, with that tone of awe and bloodlust. "Was a battle."

"You were alive for the last war, weren't you?" Shisui looked back at Kisame.

"So I can imagine what kind of power was necessary to do this," Kisame added. “I would just like to know who or how many it took.”

"An entire village gone rabid?" Shisui asked. He had yet to see any bodies, which was becoming disturbing. There were all the acrid smells of burning buildings, destruction of infrastructure, but no scent of rotting flesh. What had happened to the bodies?

"Maybe it's something he planted years ago," Kisame suggested. "He does like to play the long game."

"Maybe he can cause every village to go into a meltdown on cue?" Shisui expanded on the thought. "I doubt even he is that insidious. Although he had no problem breaking into ANBU.”

Kisame smirked. "Are you hoping?"

"Which would I be hoping for? It's not like I care if any villages survive what's coming, but I also don’t buy into my cousin’s bullshit fairy dream of peace through the complete removal of free will." Shisui stopped and looked around. They still hadn't found a body. Where had they gone? Who had them? Had they been burned to nothing? What would someone do with all of those bodies? Kisame and Shisui spent about an hour walking through the ruins. Neither of them could decide what had happened, although they traded creative assumptions. All the rumors had been obvious distortions, and this would live on as a legend. Likely, no one would ever know what had happened.

Except whoever had put this into motion.

"We could find a survivor and question them," Kisame suggested. "If you really want to know."

Shisui considered that. Did it matter? Would it be important? And did he want Obito to know he wanted to know?

"We're supposed to track down the Four Tails at some point anyway," Shisui shrugged. "We could kill two birds with one stone."

Kisame and Shisui spent at least another hour combing through the miles of wreckage. This had not been a small thing. This had been a disaster. This had been a legendary act of death and destruction. Shisui felt a little giddy and a little sick at the thought of this. As Kisame and Shisui ascended from the cupped pit of death, Shisui bristled. A very familiar figure sat on a downed tree, waiting for them.

"Hello, cousin," Obito said sweetly. Shisui felt his face twist into a vicious smile, baring his teeth to one of the humans he hated most in the world. One day, Shisui imagined, he would string Obito up by his guts. He would not just kill the man he called cousin, but Shisui would make Obito _suffer_.

Because Shisui knew now that if Obito had really wanted to, he could have gotten both of the Dogs out of Konoha alive.

But why would he have wanted that?

As a unit, Itachi and Shisui would have been their own pillar of strength, and they would not have needed the Akatsuki or Obito. Even without the Mangekyou, they could have had the power and skill to rival Obito's, and that couldn't be allowed to happen. Over the years, Shisui had decided that if Obito had gotten his way, only Itachi would have escaped alive. Shisui was supposed to die in the bowels of ANBU, but Itachi had not let that happen.

And here they were.

"Fancy meeting you here. I was coming to experience the famed hot springs of the region, and imagine my shock when I arrived to see you had already come before me," Shisui prattled genially. That forced cheerful act had become part of his make-up. It was himself, this vicious falseness. 

"You think _I_ had a hand in this?" Obito asked, faking shock. Kisame had wandered up behind them but didn't take part in the vapid sparring. He wasn't interested in wherever this was going. He was actually looking back at the pit that had been a village. Could he see something in it that Shisui could not, or did he just want to fight whatever had done this?

"You give me too much credit," Obito pushed back his mask and gave Shisui that twisted smile.

"I'd hope not. You are hoping to wipe the world clean, are you not? How will you create a world of delusion if you can't knock down one little village?" Shisui mocked Obito. "Ah, right, you are going to use other beasts' power to do it."

"I told you my plan out of courtesy, so you could have hope of seeing Itachi again," Obito said. "It _is_ the only way you will ever get to see him again, and I thought, since you love him so much, you would do anything for that chance."

Shisui felt the rage rise up. Obito constantly baited Shisui with Itachi’s death. Obito never wanted Shisui to forget that he had failed the one person who had needed him most, and it would always gut Shisui to think of Itachi’s small body contorted on that table. 

"He's _dead_ ," Shisui hissed. "Thanks to you and to me and to Konoha, he is fucking dead." And thanks to Itachi himself, because he had taken that godsdamned poison when he was already dying. That mattered, even if he could have died anyway, and Shisui felt the burn of tears in his eyes still. _Still_ , after almost four years.

"I won't desecrate his memory with your bastardized delusions," Shisui snapped. It was too late. You couldn't change the past. You could only destroy your future.

"Well, regardless, you work towards my ends," Obito smiled as he stood. "I appreciate that."

"You are weakening the villages and planning to start a war that will destroy them. I'm all in favor of that," Shisui drawled back, his voice still trembling.

"And what after that, Shisui?" Obito asked. "What then? Why not perfect peace?"

"Konoha murdered my family for peace. They subjugated the survivors for 'peace.' Peace under domination is an illusion rooted in the pain and sacrifice of the oppressed," Shisui snarled back. He breathed in. He forced himself straight and vacant before he smiled again. "Please look forward to my betrayal when it will hurt you the most, _cousin_."

Obito looked past Shisui to Kisame. "And mine as well."

"Just because I fuck him, doesn't mean I trust him," Shisui countered, tasting his own lie.

“I think we all know the truth of that, but I won’t lie to you, Shisui.” Obito sobered. "I did not do this."

"Really?" Shisui crossed his arms. "Color me doubtful."

"There are more monsters in the world than you and me, little cousin," Obito said. "You'll live longer if you remember that."

For once, Shisui thought Obito might be telling him the truth.

Wasn't that a terrifying thought?  
_  
Karin could feel when it started. She knew Sasuke's chakra completely, and Orochimaru's chakra was equally distinct. Those signatures colliding together had been the most unpleasant feeling she'd ever endured. It was a sound in her bones, a taste in the back of her throat, and a pain all the way down her spine. It screamed wrong and disgusting and _dangerous._

Worse, it felt like Sasuke was being swallowed up. Consumed by the sickly, thick chakra of Orochimaru. This was not surprising, since Sasuke's body had been _prepared_ for this handover. It should not be a shock. Everyone was just counting down the days to when Orochimaru would achieve his ultimate form in the last Uchiha.

Karin left her work station anyway and went down the hall, quickly. She went everywhere quickly. She didn't have time to strut around. Ever since Sasuke had requested her removed from the hideout she had been warden of, everything she did had a purpose. When Uchiha Sasuke took you into his confidence, it was not an honor. It was a threat and a challenge. Sasuke made his doubt of her known the second she had met him again, making it obvious she was only here because of her red hair and chakra.

_You're an Uzumaki. I may need that._

Nevermind everything she knew from gaining Orochimaru's trust. Nevermind everything she had learned while she was warden. Nevermind her abilities and strengths or cunning viciousness. Uchiha Sasuke had dissected her with his glowing red eyes and plucked out the only "valuable" bit of herself. Her chakra. Her clan. Her last name.

He was, without a doubt, a dispassionate asshole.

Sasuke made it obvious that wasn't enough. He'd given her an audition because of that, and everything else would have to be proven again and again in an escalation of skill until she reached whatever Sasuke saw as acceptable in a companion. She always felt his disdain edging his words, the thinly veiled disappointment he looked over her with. Karin didn’t know what she was trying to prove, or if she thought there was something behind all of the posturing. She hadn’t had enough time to figure that out between surviving and training.

Because there were moments-- _seconds_ where she saw something _else_ in Sasuke’s face. Sometimes when he pressed his secrets into her ears, she felt _powerful_ in a way nothing else made her feel. Because Sasuke has _secrets_ like rot through a tree, and he was giving Karin ammunition to fell him with one well-placed blow if she chose. Maybe that was trust.

Maybe it was arrogance.

It amused Orochimaru to let Sasuke choose his own cadre of misfits from Orochimaru's prisoners. Knowing that every day drew them closer to Orochimaru possessing Sasuke's body, the man got perverse pleasure in letting Sasuke build a team for himself. Karin assumed she would be sent away once Orochimaru assumed control of the body, but she didn't know. She could be killed. Maybe Orochimaru would keep her around so they could gloat over the cold bastard of an Uchiha getting what was coming to him.

Whatever was planned, she would know soon enough, because Sasuke's chakra was vanishing. Not so much being snuffed out as being absorbed. Corrupted.

Karin arrived at the door and opened it. She didn’t want to, but the door didn’t hinder her from sensing what was happening. It just kept her from seeing it. And smelling it. The smell turned even her stomach. Something like skin burning, shit, blood, and something else she had never smelled before filled the room. Sasuke's body writhed on the floor, curse mark dispersed and patchy, skin mottled grey and brown. He was seizing, body reacting to the trauma being enacted on his chakra system and mind, rejecting the take over as fully as it could.

Orochimaru's discarded body lay forgotten on the ground, already very dead.

"This is dramatic," Karin observed to Kabuto, crossing her arms. "You think he'd be better at this by now."

Kabuto smirked, pushing his glasses up his nose. Karin hated knowing she did that too. It made her want to pluck her eyes out some days. She felt writhing disgust under her skin as Kabuto spoke. "You know Sasuke-kun would never go quietly. He's always assumed he could best Orochimaru at his game."

"Sasuke's an arrogant prick that way," Karin crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. This close, the merging, writhing, abomination of this chakra signature made her want to puke. They'd have to send her away or she would never be able to be within a mile of whatever resulted from this. It was hideous.

A true abomination.

A Monster.

"Who," Karin asked as she watched. "Do you think is winning?"

Kabuto cocked his head to the side. “I think….” He frowned. The body stopped writhing and went still. Perfectly still. Dead still. Kabuto hesitated and stepped forward, speaking her name sharply, as if he expected her to come towards that thing. Maybe he wanted her to offer her arm to it, but Karin couldn’t make herself go any closer.

The body snapped forward, yellow eyes with slits for pupils looked at them. The curse mark receded. The skin returned to a pasty white. Slowly, the body got to its knees, head dropped, and obviously heavy. Then it stood gracefully. More grace than a sixteen-year-old should have. Karin knew by that it was _wrong_ , even without the feel of the chakra. The base repulsion she felt had her swallowing vomit.

Slowly, the eyes bled to red. And with Sasuke's lips, Orochimaru smiled.

Karin had not expected this, but Sasuke had. He might be arrogant, but he was also careful. There was a missive Karin was supposed to send if this was the result of the joining, and one little hawk entrusted to her for the sole purpose of delivering it. After everything that had happened in his life, with his village, Uchiha Sasuke still held concrete trust in one human being and one human being only.

Haruno Sakura, the Bitch herself.


	2. 1: The Bitch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SERIES WARNINGS: THERE WILL BE multiple major character deaths, graphic torture psychological and physical, discussions of suicide POSSIBLY suicide, discussions of past sexual assaults, and more. We're delving into oppressive governments too guys, so be prepared for that.
> 
> This took forever due to writer's block and life being stressful. Be prepared for a lot of set-up in this chapter, I've given you some hints about how I'm going to break your hearts here. :D 
> 
> Warnings specifically this chapter for gore.

If Konoha wanted something really Dead, they sent ANBU 5 after it.

Given their make-up, it was not surprising. They had the ANBU prodigy Hyuuga Neji. They had Sai, a product of Root born and raised for murder.

Having The Bitch as Captain just cemented their reputation. 

Today the hunt was five Missing-nin who had been working with an information leak in Konoha. Konoha’s leak had been stopped, and now ANBU 5 just had to clean up the loose ends. The first kill went to Neji at the moment of ambush, the man dead in seconds. He had been the genjutsu expert, and the others were proving more difficult. 

But they all liked a challenge.

Sakura dodged most of the lightning-fast flurry of blows, but one found its mark. Sakura slammed hard into the ground, feeling the tendons in her leg giving out as she tried to catch herself. The blow had been exceptionally precise, aimed to disable her legs, but as she rose, she was slapping her calf and painfully stitching those injuries back together with her own chakra. It wasn’t full healing, but it would keep her moving. She flickered, her body carrying her faster than sight to land behind the man she was fighting. As he reacted, she was moving. The movement unsealed one of the many weapons at her hip. She was pushing chakra into her body arms and torso, increasing her speed and power as she would for a punch as she gripped the handle of the giant ax from her scroll. He couldn’t make the full turn in time.

Sakura didn’t bother with precision, because it didn’t matter in this situation. She just had to land the hit, and that was enough. With one hard swing, she felt bone cracking. Severing. An arm flew off. Blood sprayed. She cut down into ribs and probably hit lung as her opponent scrambled away. The missing-nin staggered, almost falling as he tried to turn and face her. Sakura swung up with her ax and it splintered into the man’s skull. Blood and brain matter sprayed as the top and side of the man’s skull spun away to slap into a tree.

She felt the shinobi land behind her and flickered forward, pivoting as she felt the fire catching against her clothes, singing her hair but missing her main mass. The shinobi threw kunai wrapped in exploding tags at Sakura. She swung her ax, batting the projectiles off course, but still triggering the explosion. Sakura was already throwing herself up with the energy of the blast and above the obscuring cloud of smoke and cinders. She’d released the ax to avoid taking the force of the explosion through her wrists and instead let the ax spin away. It also gave the illusion she had been injured or it had been knocked from her hands. It meant her opponent did not look up, expecting her to be in the cloud still, expecting her to be injured. Sakura had a perfect view of him scything into the smoke, swinging heavy and wide with his staff to hit her as she reached the peak of her jump. She could land in the clear air and launch her own attack.

Instead, Sakura translocated just above him. He reacted instantly to the displacement of air behind him, possibly her chakra signature too, spinning and trying to hit her. He missed, because who translocated above someone? Sakura landed heavily on his shoulders, bearing him to the ground as she gathered healing chakra in her hand and slapped it to the man’s neck. He dropped, instantly limp as Sakura rolled away. She was already grabbing a knife to be sure of her work when she heard the scream.

“RUNNER!” The shout was from Neji, and if Neji was yelling rather than chasing, something had him down. Sakura took off towards the sound, barely pausing to slam her hands into the ground to summon her ninken. It only took a second for the wisp of a dog to barrel past her. The creature was completely insubstantial, just hair and legs as she sped past Sakura, latching onto the scent of the runner.

Sakura had to push herself to her limits to be fast enough to keep up. The possibility of hitting something and shattering her body was very real here. This speed was supposed to be in short, planned bursts from place to place, but Sakura maintained the speed, following the path of the dog in front of her. Suddenly, Nioi jerked to the left, going into a stand of underbrush, diving almost into the ground as she frantically dug. She released a human-like keening as she dug. Sakura rebounded off of a tree, feeling her legs scream and the tree splintering under the force. Sakura landed by Nioi and slammed her fist into the ground. The ground cracked and broke apart under her, revealing the missing-nin hiding in the ground. 

As he turned, he was pulling his hands through signs, lightning already screaming through the knife he was throwing at Sakura. Sakuta dodged to the side but still felt the electricity arc through her body. It scrambled her nerves, throwing her to the ground and wrenching her into a spasm. Nioi lunged for the man’s throat. He swung at her as he tried to scramble away. His leg was mangled. The wound looked like something one of Sai’s ink animals would create. Still mostly limp, Sakura hit one of the broken clods of dirt by her, slamming it into the man’s face as he was trying to get away from Nioi. It stunned him long enough for Sakura to get her feet under her and for Nioi to sink her double row of teeth into the man’s shoulder and neck. Her strength, as her jaw cracked bone, did not match her frame. Sakura surged forward, not bothering to unseal anything as she simply brought her fist down _hard_ onto the man’s skull, feeling the shatter, crunch, give of the skull before her fist went easily through brain tissue. Sakura jerked back as the body convulsed hard, and Nioi shook the dying man viciously, tearing away a chunk of his shoulder and finally diving into savage his neck. Blood sprayed up over Sakura’s mask and neck, dripping down behind the mask.

Sakura stood and moved back, breathing hard. Sai landed beside her as she removed her mask to wipe at the blood that was running into it and into her eyes..

“I have Neji.” They both watched Nioi savage the corpse with relish. Kakashi had told Sakura there was something...different about her ninken. She had fewer, and there was something wrong with all of them. They seemed less intelligent than anyone in Kakashi’s pack. Sakura thought she knew what the problem was. The problem was her. 

She was an animal, and so were they.

“Good.” Sakura pulled herself up and whistled sharply. “Nioi, leave it.”

The dog dropped the body, turning her blood face to Sakura as she wagged. She had a double row of abnormally long dog teeth in her mouth. Her eyes were very pale. She stretched into a play bow, wagging her tail at Sakura, lolling out a very black tongue.

“Let’s strip the bodies and get back,” Sakura was starting to feel all her injuries. Her knees hurt. The temporary repair of her tendons was an agony now.

“You got the other two?” 

“One’s alive but immobilized,” Sakura clapped Sai on the shoulder. “Nioi will bring you to me when you’re done.” Nioi licked her bloody lips and looked at Sai, cocking her head. It would be cute if she hadn’t just destroyed their target like that. If she was just not quite “dog” enough to be anything but unsettling.

“How’s Neji?” Sakura asked as she prepared to go to her own business.

“His leg is badly injured, but it’s nothing fatal,” Sai shrugged. His blank mask was less eerie than his carefully controlled face. “We’ll meet you there, Captain.”

Sakura ran up the nearest tree but took her time getting back to the clearing. The corpse wasn’t going anywhere, and she had severed the other man’s spine. More damage to her knee wouldn’t help anything. They were both lying where she had left them. Sakura descended easily, walking to the corpse first. She grabbed it by the shoulders of its flak vest and dragged it over closer to the paralyzed man before she began to methodically strip and search the body.

“You’re the Bitch,” The paralyzed man couldn’t turn his head, but Sakura had set this up so he could see her work. She hadn’t put her mask back on, not wanting to take the time to clean it off. She was pretty recognizable anyway. Who else in ANBU had pink hair? Maybe she should dye it.

But she wanted to be noticed. She wanted people to _know_ The Bitch of Konoha was out there.

She wanted her Team to know.

Sakura looked at him. “You might want to watch what you say to me if you ever want to walk again.”

The man scoffed. “You’re gonna kill me when you get done...you think you’re good enough to kill him?”

“I’m good enough to kill a lot of people,” Sakura slit open the man’s flak vest and began checking for inner hidden pockets.

“The Dog,” The man breathed. “I’ve seen him.”

Sakura felt her body freeze. She felt her heart give a lurch. She couldn’t hide the reaction, and the man went on. “He’s a crazy son-of-a-bitch. Got that bloodthirsty monster from Mist on a leash behind him.” The man made a noise that could have been a laugh.

“He’s got dead eyes,” The man continued. “And his _smile_....it’s like you’re looking into a skull. That’s a dead man walking.” The man’s smile twisted. “Take a fucking lot more than a bitch like you to kill him, mark me.”

“You think that because you five died so fast I didn’t have a chance to show off.” Sakura smiled. The Bitch’s smile, they called it. She saw the man’s expression freeze.

“I don’t think you saw him,” Sakura continued. “Because if you had seen Shisui-sensei, you’d be dead.” If the man had been able to move, he would have been scrambling. He obviously wasn’t lying, because he was afraid of that smile, and Sakura had practiced it in the mirror enough to get the look she remembered. It made Kakashi stop in the halls and pull her aside for talks. 

It made people _nervous_.

And it made them fucking remember.

“Captain,” Neji, draped awkwardly over one of Sai’s lion dogs, called. Sai and Nioi were also coming into view. Nioi shimmied away from Sai as soon as she saw Sakura, dashing up to shove her bloody nose into Sakura’s cheek. Nioi licked her, leaving behind a sticky trail of blood before turning her attention to the paralyzed man. His eyes widened at the sight of the dog’s mouth as she came closer to him.

“Nioi, you can go home now,” Sakura said as she released the dog’s summons before she got too excited and killed the man. 

“Are we taking this one with us?” Sai asked, leaning over to peer at the man.

“No, I don’t think he’s anything useful,” Sakura admitted. 

“That’s too bad.” Sakura could feel Sai smiling behind his mask before he stabbed his fine knife through the man’s neck, severing arteries and finished what Sakura had begun. Sakura stood and stepped back to avoid the blood splatter this time. 

“Strip him down for me,” Sakura requested, stepping back from the corpse to go to Neji. He hadn’t gotten down from the lion-dog, which meant something was very wrong with him.

“Captain,” Neji inclined his head. Sakura could see the blood on the hip. It was already swelling. She lifted a hand and placed it on Neji’s thigh.

“I apologize,” Neji added. “I should have been more careful.” Sakura could feel the blow had both crushed and sliced into Neji’s hip. It had chipped the bone and ripped through tendons. Her leg injury was a simple fix, but his would need careful rehab.

“I’ll forgive you this time,” Sakura wondered how good the guy had been to get a blow in on Neji. There was a reason he had been the first from her year of the Chuunin exam to join ANBU. Maybe it was also because his clan saw him as expendable. “This is going to take a few weeks to rehab. I can give you a nerve block until we get back,” Sakura suggested. She could feel Sai walking up behind her. “You won’t be able to move it, but you shouldn’t move anyway.”

“Can you keep this up until we get back to Konoha?” Sakura asked Sai, already putting the nerve block in place. No reason for Neji to be hurting all the way back. Sakura would carry him if the ink loin couldn’t. 

“Of course, Captain,” Sai said, almost sincerely. He passed her a few papers and trinkets, as well as a wrapped package of poisons. “This was all they had on them that was interesting.” He said that, but it would be simple for Sai to have slipped an important scroll or item into his own hidden pockets while Sakura was busy. Sakura always had a lingering doubt in the back of her mind because Sai had come from Root. Could they actually trust him? Was there a reason Kakashi had placed her on a Squad with him? Was it simply because Sai was skilled, or was she being used as bait to lure out whatever might remain of Root?

Or, was Kaksahi giving her a warning about what she might become?

Sai’s masked face gave nothing away, but Sakura felt his stare as she took the items Sai knew exactly how she felt. They had both been brutally blunt with each other before settling into this polite charade. It was more than that. Everyone knew how she felt. It had only been my Kakashi’s recommendation she’d been allowed in ANBU, and she knew many people didn’t feel she belong here.

They doubted her loyalty.

Sakura took the items from Sai and sealed them into a scroll. The items would go to T&I for analysis. Not her problem.

“All right ANBU 5, back to base,” Sakura turned towards Konoha.

Today, she was going back.  
~  
When one of ANBU 5 got injured, ANBU’s medics knew better not to touch them beyond life-saving measures. Sakura had never allowed any of her Squad to return in critical condition. Tsunade had made her promise she had to prioritize the health of her team as a healer, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to take the front line with them. Tsunade still claimed Sakura wasn’t skilled enough for the role she claimed. Tsunade insisted Sakura’s insistence on fighting as she did would get herself and her teammates killed one day. But ANBU needed bodies. Fighters. 

Sakura could fight.

Sakura was the one putting Neji’s hip back together. The complexity of the injury meant she was not just using chakra healing. Tendons and ligaments and muscle tears as extreme as this had to be treated delicately and allowed to heal slowly with proper guidance for full range of motion to be restored. That was why Sakura had Neji’s naked hip cut open, dabbing away blood as she applied physical stitches and knit things back together with chakra.

None of ANBU 5 were talkative. Sai held pleasant conversations, and Sakura and Neji had common ground because of Team Gai and Naruto, but Neji didn’t chatter. He knew she needed to concentrate, and he was likely still in pain despite the medication. The nerve block had mostly worn off. Sakura had been telling Neji what she was doing as he lay on the stretcher. ANBU medics moved around them, only two were on duty right now. There might be more tucked away in ANBU headquarters, likely healing down in T&I. Sakura hated the idea of that. Even if those the cells were not the same ones used for the Dogs or held Itachi in his last hours, they served the same purpose. She was glad, for once, favoritism kept her out of that department.

“Don’t forget your knee,” Neji said as Sakura teased some more muscle back together.

“Nothing gets by you, does it?” Sakura muttered. “Don’t worry. It’s light tearing and nothing more. I’ll be running again in three days.”

“That happens to you a lot, Captain,” Neji added.

“Did Gai-sensei put you up to this?” Sakura asked, leaving forward to look at Neji’s face. “I am going to tell him and Lee you need help with physical therapy if you keep snitching on me.”

Neji didn’t respond to that, only meeting her eyes calmly. Neji had stopped wearing a headband across his sealing mark. He bore it openly and watched eyes turn away from it. He didn’t visit the Hyuuga compound and hadn’t since joining ANBU. Sakura didn’t blame him. She thought she even approved.

“I have to be strong enough to support my Squad. If I get beat up in the process, so be it,” Sakura said frankly.

“That sounds like an excuse for a lack of skill,” Neji responded without any rancor. Sakura had the urge to stab him more deeply with her needle.

“Are you trying to say I don’t belong in ANBU?” Sakura asked.

“There’s no one to take your place,” Neji admitted. He closed his eyes. “I suppose it doesn’t matter if you don’t intend to stay in ANBU for much longer.” That statement held numerous questions. A lot of implications. Maybe even an offer if she dug in enough.

“I intend to have a long career in ANBU. I’m not going to cripple myself.” Sakura started pulling Neji’s skin back together over all her stitches and healing. By comparison, knitting skin back to itself was easy. It almost jumped back together, reuniting as if it had never been torn in the first place.

“I’m sure you won’t, Captain,” Neji said.

“Just be sure you do those stretches I told you, and I’ll check it in two days,” Sakura commanded. “Until then, _rest_.”

“Yes, Captain.” Neji slowly sat up as Sakura took her hands away. He didn’t show any signs of pain as he slowly stood and took the crutches placed at the edge of the bed for him. After making sure Neji got out of headquarters and under the protective eye of Tenten, Sakura went to finish up her duties as Captain. She could be home and in bed, in two hours if she hurried.

Four hours later, Sakura found herself in Kakashi’s office. She’d known better than to come here, but she couldn’t resist. The draw was almost magnetic. Compulsive. Technically, she shouldn’t have access to the Head of ANBU’s office like this. Kakashi had allowed her access as a compromise to allow her access to classified information as requested by Tsunade. It didn’t make Ibiki happy, but there wasn’t much he could say against it, since Tsunade had approved the measure. After all these years she still held true to her promise to tell Sakura whatever she asked to know.

Sakura had her own set of sealed and locked files in the room. Aching from all her strained and ripped muscles, exhausted from using so much chakra, Sakura sat down beside the file cabinet. She had her knee and ankle braced, keeping the ligaments and muscles in position as they healed. She’d be back to full strength in a week, unlike Neji. Sakura had recommended two months off in her report. ANBU 5 was due for some downtime anyway. Sai would probably be loaned out to another team, but he was adaptable. Sakura would be working with Tsunade, cramming in healing lessons before she was released back to ANBU. Sakura was already making a list of people she needed to see, the training she would need to do, and everything else that would have to be done while she was off ANBU duty. 

Neji’s words nettled her. She knew she had a long way to go. She was only ANBU because Konoha desperately needed ANBU. She was no prodigy. No genius. She was just Haruno Sakura. She never let that hold her back, it only pushed her forward, or so she hoped. Pretended. Wished. She was always pushing herself to her limits, and she hated how soon she found them. Still, all she could do was keeping pushing.

For now, she sat down on the floor of Kakashi’s office, chewing her way through a dense ration bar. She opened the cabinet and pulled out a few slim scrolls. Kakashi had left them for her since her last visit. Sakura pulled out a map next and spread it out on the floor. The map was littered with different colored markers. She cracked open the scrolls and read through the reports. They were about information stolen. Secret leaked. Assassinations and slaughter carried out with deadly precision or careless abandon.

Sakura went back over the information she had been documenting for years now. She tried to find the pattern. She tried to fit the events into a larger narrative, but she was just coming up with the same conclusions she always did.

It was all senseless.

Just violence and anger, vented out into mass destruction.

Maybe that was for the best. If she did see a pattern--if she divined a plan or intention to these actions, what would she do? Help? Hinder? Report them? There were no good answers, but Sakura looked for the logic anyway. She needed to know, even if she already knew deep in her gut.

Sakura didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard the door open. She didn’t bother looking up as Kakashi walked in. She smelled food, and someone must have told him ANBU 5 had made it back to Konoha safely. Likely Tsunade had had something to say about Sakura and her ANBU mission load, how it was bad for her growth as a healer. The truth was, Konoha couldn’t afford to lose any more ANBU agents, even if they were young and green. Sakura did not deserve the reputation she had, and it seemed to grow with each of Shisui’s wild stunts. His reputation reflected back on her, obscuring her true talents and skill under the veil of ‘the Dog’s student.’ If her teacher was this good, she must have some of that skill.

Kakashi began setting things down on his desk, and it smelled savory and rich, making her stomach rumble despite the ration bar she’d eaten. Her body craved actual food. Meat. Carbs.

“Do you think he was connected to what happened in Stone?” Sakura asked. Kakashi paused, then broke chopsticks in two.

“I don’t know. It is possible, but it would be an escalation of what he has been doing.” Kakashi said.

“What has he been doing?” Sakura asked.

“Terrorizing villages,” Kakashi didn’t really suggest it or state it. It fell between. Sakura didn’t look or stand up. She had dirt caked under her nails. They had chipped and faded light green paint Ino had put on them last month. Sakura, despite her exhaustion, felt a smell of warmth at the thought of Ino. Sakura had split her knuckles, and her hands were covered in small scars. Little knicks she had never healed.

“Why?” Sakura asked. She’d asked Kakashi before. She’d asked herself. She’d even asked Sasuke.

With a sigh, Kakashi sat down on the floor, leaning back against his desk. He offered Sakura a take-out box of food. Sakura took it slowly, finally looking at Kakashi. The last four years had aged him, although his white hair and minimal face exposure made it harder to see. Sakura could see it. She’d watched it happen, and she had probably put some of those lines on his face.

“What else is there for him to do?” Kakashi asked, taking his own box of food and handing Sakura chopsticks. She took them, and then the tea he offered her. 

Sakura looked at the marks on her map. She tried to reconcile everything there with the man who had been so briefly her sensei. In the grand scheme of her life, the amount of time she had spent with Shisui-sensei had been brief. Her time with Itachi had been even briefer, but she felt she could recall each of those days with perfect clarity. Shisui had been gruff and perfectly contained. He had been gentle and carefully nurturing. Sakura had trusted him. She had felt safe with him. 

She’d give anything to be back in Shisui and Itachi’s shabby apartment having breakfast with them and Naruto. She remembered how happy Shisui had seemed, alternating between gruff with his students and teasing Itachi with obvious affection. She remembered the way Itachi would tip his head and look at Shisui, smiling. 

Sakura was almost as old as Itachi had been when he died.

That thought took her by surprise and almost made her sick.

“Revenge,” Sakura said succinctly.

“Against who?” 

Sakura had asked herself that question. Konoha? The Council? Every shinobi in Konoha over twenty? They had all been complicit in keeping the Dogs down and not rising up against the slaughter of one of Konoha’s founding clans. Revenge was not clear cut. Sakura looked at the information leaks, the sabotage, the tailed beasts stolen, the valuable squads simply wiped out. It was hitting to hurt. Every blow was designed to be painful, but none to kill. Kakashi was silent for a while. They had had some discussions on this topic, but Kakashi was always reluctant to talk about it. 

“You think he’s gone mad, don’t you?” Sakura asked.

Kakashi was silent so long, Sakura didn’t think he would answer. “I don’t think what was your sensei survived Itachi’s death.”

Sakura now knew Itachi hadn’t just been held in ANBU during the Chuunin exams. Itachi had spent the last hours of his life being tortured and then died in his last attempt to escape Konoha and ANBU. Itachi and Shisui had been victimized their entire lives. Last year Kakashi had told her about the seal that had been placed on Itachi’s shoulder. She understood why Shisui had almost leveled Konoha. She understood why Shisui was spending his life fucking up villages plans as much as he could, leaking information and assassinating important figures with a ferocity that placed a huge bounty on his head despite the danger of trying to take him on. Shisui had turned the systematic abuse Konoha had used on him on the world.

The only question was why he hadn’t come for Konoha yet.

“I don’t think he’s insane,” Sakura said. She looked at Kakashi. “I think he’s perfectly sane, and that is why he’s doing all of this.” What else could he do? How else could he respond to having his humanity stripped from him, the shreds used against him as he watched Itachi be twisted out of true? Sakura could only be glad Sasuke wasn’t in Konoha anymore. She could only question what she was still doing here, but she still didn’t know what else to do. Where else did she go?

“Maybe,” Kakashi said. He was still watching her, and Sakura finally took a bite. As soon as she did, she was ravenous. Her mouth watered. She felt nauseous with hunger.

“One of our targets said he had seen Shisui-sensei,” Sakura added between bites. “He said there was no way I could kill him.”

“Shisui was a prodigy in his own right, and now he had the Mangekyou. Given all the high-level techniques he’s picked up over the years, and the fact that he’s almost a decade older than you, that’s probably true,” Kakashi agreed.

Sakura wiped rice from the corner of her mouth, swallowing. “Then there isn’t some hopeful plan in ANBU that I am going to kill Shisui-sensei one day?” Sakura asked.

“Do you think I would ask you to do that?” Kakashi asked it just as absently, but also very softly. Sakura felt her eyes sting, but she blinked the tears away. 

“You’re only one person, and we all know how easy it is to kill one person,” Sakura said.

“I’d have more faith in the Hokage. You pull more weight with her than you think,” Kakashi crunched on something and looked into his food. He began poking around in it. Sakura was physically exhausted. She had hit a place of low, dead thought and emotion that meant she was pushing herself too much. 

She was also intensely lonely, seeing Sai and Neji off reminded her that she didn’t have a team anymore.

She was all alone.

A wave of guilt washed up over her. That wasn’t true.

“I don’t think she can extend it to offering asylum to one of the most notorious missing-nin there is,” Sakura waved off Kakashi's words.

“I didn’t say that,” Kakashi pulled out another bite of food and inspected it. “I don’t believe you’ll reach a level where you can realistically challenge Shisui before someone else happens to him, and Tsunade wouldn’t send you on a suicide mission.”

Sakura’s hand clenched around his chopsticks. “Do you know something you’re not telling me?”

“Not directly, but there are rumors the Akastuki are ramping up their plans. With what just happened to Rock. . .it looks like we’re headed to major conflict, and the Akatsuki will likely be in the middle of it.” Kakashi said. “It’s likely something will happen to him then, or he’ll overstretch his reach. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“Are you saying you might happen to him?” Sakura poked through her food. She heard Kakashi shift and breathe out slowly.

“It’s flattering you think I would stand a chance against him.” Sakura looked up to see Kakashi’s eye smile. “I don’t think Konoha should have anything to do with Shisui unless forced to. Tsunade agrees with me.” But only Tsunade. Other people would not. Other people were skittish of having that threat hanging over their heads, and Sakura knew it.

“I came down here to tell you I’ll be outside of Konoha on an assignment,” Kakashi added. “I’m having you taken off ANBU assignment until I return since Tsunade had been complaining about your workload interfering with your medical training.”

“Ah.” Sakura wasn’t pleased with that, but it was more interesting Kakashi would be outside of Konoha. As head of ANBU, he didn’t leave the headquarters much, much less Konoha. “What is it?”

“Some very high-profile facilities are being broken into,” Kakashi explained. “And some clan and village elders have been found in...poor condition after assumed interrogations. They’ve remembered nothing of the incidents. Very few traces of the shinobi involved have been found, but there have been a few clues.”

“Has it happened in Konoha?”

“No. Likely we wouldn’t have heard anything about it, but the Kazekage reached out to Tsunade personally with what she knew.” Kakashi shrugged his shoulders a bit, settling back against his desk more. “Some of the information given makes me think it could be a leftover remnant of Root.”

Sakura felt a shiver go down her spine. Root had been dismantled after the destruction Shisui had caused, and Tsunade had been ruthless in bringing all of its members to justice. Still, with a group like that, things went deep. Secrets were difficult to discover, and so many of Konoha’s had been buried or destroyed.

“Do you think it is?” Sakura asked.

“I can’t take the risk that it isn’t,” Kakashi admitted. “The information sounds credible, but I won’t be able to verify it until I catch the individual in the act. If it is a member of Root gathering information like this, then they likely have an agenda of some kind.”

“How are you going to catch them?” Sakura asked.

“I’m very good at my job,” Kakashi replied. “Have you heard from Sasuke lately?”

Sakura scowled at the abrupt shift. Kakashi was obviously done talking about his mission. She was surprised he would tell her that much. That worried her because it meant he was worried. If Root might be back, Sakura and Tsunade might both be targeted. “No, he missed our last two planned meetings, but he said that might happen. Orochimaru has been keeping him closer lately. Sasuke thought it must be almost time.”

And Sasuke mentioned it so casually. Sakura could see Sasuke as he said it, standing with his back to her. The black, venomous snake wrapped around his neck or wrist an unwelcome surprise for anyone who got too close. When Sakura looked at Sasuke, she saw him growing. He reminded her of Itachi, not Shisui. She could see him maturing. He was an adult. A man. He had made his own choices and was shouldering the consequences.

When Sakura looked in the mirror she didn’t see that. Yes, she had grown, but how much? She looked like an overgrown child. She‘d cut her hair still, keeping it clipped short. Ino had taken up cutting it, and it had just gotten shorter over time as accidents happened and she had just settled on the short length. She was always bruised and scabbed from missions, and she couldn’t remember the last time she had seen a mark on Sasuke.

Sakura might be in ANBU, but she still felt she was the team member being left behind.

“What do you think his chances are?” Kakashi asked, so absently it was laughable.

“I don’t think Sasuke would do it if he didn’t think he had a good chance,” Sakura bit her thumb. 

_If I lose, kill him. Don’t let him have my body free of charge._

Haruno Sakura, the Bitch of Konoha, kill a Sannin. That was laughable. Still, she would have to try. She would not break her word unless it broke her first. Sasuke hadn’t asked her because he thought she could do it, or because he wanted her to fail. He had asked it because he had no one else to ask. He still trusted her, and she had to be worthy of that trust even if it killed her.

“But I don’t know. . .” Sakura paused. “Is that why you’re leaving Konoha?” A side mission?

Kakashi shook his head. “Konoha likes to pretend Sasuke and Orochimaru don’t exist. It helps them sleep better at night. I will keep my ear out and do what I can, but that isn’t what they’re sending me out for. Trying to track down this faceless ghost will be enough of a challenge for this old dog.”

Another smile.

“Do you ever wish you’d gotten Team 8 instead?” Sakura asked.

“If I had, I wouldn’t have had Shisui to do half the work,” Kakashi replied lightly. “I do have one request before I leave.”

Sakura was so wrapped up in her own worries she nodded without thinking about it. Thinking about Orochimaru having control of Sasuke's body made her want to vomit.

“Don’t run any ANBU missions while I’m gone. I’m sure Tsunade-sama will keep you busy enough with your medical training you won’t have time to think about it, but just in case you are requested…”

Kakashi had never asked her not to run missions. Blacklisted her to make her rest, but never straight up told her not to run missions like this. “Why?”

“It would be best if you don’t come into headquarters either until I get back,” Kakashi rubbed his chin as he thought about it and nodded to himself as if she hadn’t spoken. “That way you won’t be tempted to volunteer for anything.”

“Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura didn’t growl, but she put force behind the word. “Why?”

“Just an old man being paranoid,” Kakashi did not quite shrug. “You said Neji’s recovery would be lengthy, and you need to stop pushing yourself too much.”

“It will be,” Sakura agreed. But, as much as she pried and tugged. She could not get her cagey sensei to drop any more hints about what he was worried about. If Sakura wasn’t in ANBU, she was with Tsunade. It made her worried about what could be brewing in ANBU. If parts of Root might have survived, what else could be lurking in the shadows?

“I’ll stay out of ANBU,” Sakura promised. “As long as you don’t take too long to get back.”

Kakashi did smile at that. “Of course.”

Kakashi might not think that was a threat, but if he didn’t come back, Sakura was coming after him. Nothing would stop her.  
~  
Yamanake Ino had made her reputation by being a ruthless bitch, a Yamanaka, and by dating Konoha’s Bitch. 

Ino had known Sakura before she’d gotten that name. She’d known Sakura before any of Team 7. They’d been best friends until the petty jealousy over Sasuke had driven them apart. Ino remembered Sakura as a cry-baby. A slightly selfish little girl who was a know-it-all who Ino could still outclass in a fight. She was a girl with a temper and maybe too much confidence who was on a team with Ino’s crush. A boy she had thought she loved. Ino had nursed her soured feelings until the Chuunin exams, and there Ino had realized Sakura had become someone else entirely. The little girl was gone. Dead. Dismissed for the budding shinobi Sakura was becoming. Ino realized _she_ was falling behind.

Then Itachi had died, Sakura’s sensei had lost his mind and destroyed most of Konoha, and Team 7 had been thrown to all corners of the earth. Of everyone, Ino had witnessed most of what Sakura had been through after that. Ino knew how difficult those months had been. She knew all the _almosts_ in those months. Sakura had cemented her reputation in the following year, pushing herself hard and fast and taking on a wild edge that had diminished, but no one had really forgotten.

That reputation had gotten Sakura into ANBU, although that could have been a placement to allow Kakashi to better watch over her. Ino had gotten herself placed in records when someone discovered she was very good at putting things together. She was being trained to take over a spy network, and she knew it. She would not be doing the spying herself, but would have the control of several spies, information brokers, and others that would likely only deal with her. Shisui’s destruction of ANBU personnel and records had put Konoha almost a decade behind all other villages in the information gathering department.

And oddly, Shisui had continued to level the playing field by leaking massive secrets to the world. He could have wiped out the crippled Konoha, but he hadn’t.

Today Ino was sorting through old reports about Rock. She didn’t think anything would tell them what had happened to the village, but she was required to check. Ino yawned and sighed. During the day this room was used by people without her security clearance, so she was only allowed to work at night. She was becoming nocturnal and reclusive. She hadn’t seen Choji, Shikimaru, or Asuma in two weeks. She was going to have to complain until they gave her another space or switched her to something less secretive. 

Ino rubbed her eyes and froze. The noise in the hall was not human, but no alarms had been tripped. That should mean this was not an intruder from outside of Konoha. Should, but didn’t. Ino slowly reached for a kunai, easing herself soundlessly back from her desk. The noise reached the door. She felt something stop outside of it. She had locked and sealed the door, and now she moved to the side to be ready to attack when something came through it.

Something black poked under the door. 

Ino sighed with relief. She unlocked the door as Nioi tried to shove her face under it, digging at the door with her sharp black claws. As soon as Ino opened the door. Nioi shoved her nose into Ino’s leg, inhaling deeply before she sat down and turned to face up the hall. The dog was eerie, not quite _dog_ shaped. Ino had been shocked that Sakura’s ninken did not look like Kakashi’s at all. They were far more...monstrous. It looked like Kakashi had made a family for himself out of his dogs. Sakura had made tools exaggerated to their purposes.

Ino leaned around the doorframe and smiled. Sakura was coming down the hall. Sakura’s formerly long hair was now above her shoulders, but she had kept the front long while trimming the back shorter. Sakura’s face had become more tanned than ever, a bit ruddy, freckles barely showing on her cheekbones. She had two scars on her face--one that had taken half of her left eyebrow with it. One across her right jaw, still new and red where someone had tried to decapitate her. Her eyes were the same spring green, paired with her soft pink hair should have made her an ultra-feminine goddess of spring.

Instead, Sakura had grown taller barely a bit broader. Ino could attest that Sakura was all muscle and bone and sinew, barely any fat on her body. She didn’t hide her shape, or lack of it, under too many clothes. In Konoha she wore black shorts and a red top that was a throwback to what she wore when Team 7 was still a thing. Her gloves hid her scarred hands, and the knee-high boots she wore hid the massive amounts of scars on her shins. The way she was walking indicated she had yet another leg strain or injury.

Sakura looked exhausted, but she smiled as she approached. 

“What are you doing here?” Ino asked. “When did you get back?”

“This afternoon,” Sakura said. Ino didn’t know if that was a lie. Sakura paused and patted her dog on the head, slipping her a treat before releasing the summons. Sakura smelled like the antiseptic-tinged soap from ANBU, very industrial and efficient. Ino made sure to stock Sakura’s tiny apartment with things that were better for her complexion and better smelling. It also meant she could tell when Sakura had just come from headquarters.

“You came straight here without sleeping, didn’t you?” Ino asked archly as Sakura stepped a little closer. She looked sheepish, her cheeks going pink. This was the girl everyone whispered about. The supposed animal child who had been taken advantage of by her teacher. Sakura tucked her hair back behind her ear, and Ino loved the way Sakura glanced up at her. It reminded Ino of the girl she had grown up with. Sakura was still short. Tsunade thought she had damaged her growth plates with her hard training.

“I have to see Tsunade early,” Sakura began with an excuse, but Ino touched her jaw. Sakura stopped talking, tipping her head and the hand that had been straying closer to Ino touched her flak vest before Sakura dipped in and kissed Ino. Ino was tired and stiff from reading reports for hours. She could take a break and limber up. 

“It’s nice to know I have so much power over you, Captain of the ANBU 5,” Ino whispered as she pulled back from the kiss. “There are many people in Konoha who wish they could say the same.”

“For completely different reasons,” Sakura pushed Ino back into the room, and Ino leaned forward to close the door sharply behind Sakura. She locked it as she pushed Sakura back against the door. 

“That shows what you know.” Ino lied. This wasn’t truth, It was seduction. Sakura didn’t respond, and Ino was already undoing the clasps on Sakura’s shirt. Her skin was hot to the touch, her body a lithe, compact weapon ready for any reaction or action. This was a body, bared willingly under Ino’s hand, hundreds of people by now had tried to kill and failed. Probably hundreds. Maybe just dozens. Maybe--

Sakura had gotten Ino’s flak vest open, and Ino allowed herself to stop thinking for a while.  
~  
Sakura dozed on Ino’s arm. She wasn’t asleep, but she was resting. Ino couldn’t feel her fingers anymore, but she knew the second she moved, Sakura would go. The bruises and minor scrapes were still visible on Sakura’s body. Sakura was always scraped up. Bruised. Battered. She used her body in a way that carried disdain for all its weaknesses. Sometimes that made Ino worry. Sometimes it made her strangely proud. Other times it was sexy.

Ino had not gone into ANBU, nor did she expect to. Shikimaru had. If Shikimaru had been a pain in the butt before, it was nothing compared to now. He had gained an odd moral superiority Ino hadn’t taken much notice of before. Shikimaru often complained to Ino about Sakura--the risks she took, the special treatment she received, and how she circumvented the rules. He more often warned Ino about Sakura. He never said anything specific, but hints and insinuations were enough. He didn’t think associating with her was altogether safe. He did not trust Sakura. 

Or someone else in ANBU did not.

Finally, Ino gave in and moved. She pulled her arm back from Sakura to flex feeling back into it. Sakura stirred, rolling towards Ino before sitting up and pushing her hair back. She yawned and stretched before slouching and yawning again.

“Good Morning.”

“I don’t think this counts as morning,” Ino pulled Sakura’s shirt over herself. It was drafty in this room. “How soon do you need to be with the Hokage?”

“The sooner the better,” Sakura admitted, but she made no move to go. Wearing only a thin tank top, Ino could see the muscle definition on Sakura’s body. She knew Sakura was strong. She’d been manhandled enough to know it, but just looking at her didn’t convey the power in her body. Haruno Sakura did not look like anything out of the ordinary for a shinobi.

She didn’t look like someone who would make ANBU nervous.

If Shisui had never been her teacher, maybe she wouldn’t have been. Shisui hadn’t even been meant to teach Sakura anything, simply to train Sasuke on the Sharingan. Kakashi was the reason Shisui had spent so much time with Team 7, and why Sakura’s life had spun out of control. Several people still wondered why she hadn’t left with Shisui or with Sasuke. Ino didn’t. She got it. She also understood it was not a decision made from weakness or indecisiveness.

“When are you going back on duty?” Ino asked.

“I don’t know. One of my squad is out with an injury, and Kakashi pulled me from the active roster until. . .further notice,” Sakura said.

“Did you fuck up?” Ino asked. Sakura swatted Ino with her shirt. Ino grabbed it and pulled Sakura in. Sakura came willingly, ducking her lips to Ino’s . Her pink hair brushing Ino’s face. Her lips were chapped. She smelled less like antiseptic now. Ino could feel the heat radiating off her body. Ino dropped back and sighed. She stretched, arching her body and watching how Sakura watched her. She liked that. Sakura’s attention was always more gratifying than any strangers. 

“Well, I’ll enjoy actually having my girlfriend in town,” Ino draped her arms above. “As long as you don’t spend the entire time training.”

Sakura started grabbing her clothes. “Tsunade-sama is probably going to take up most of my time.” Sakura had a line between her brows, and the easy curve of her spine was gone. “I need to work on my taijutsu with Gai-sensei and Lee too.” That was all normal stuff. Team Gai had basically adopted Sakura. 

“What are you worried about?” Ino pressed. She sat up, but Sakura didn’t look at her. “Is it what happened in Rock?”

Sakura looked at Ino sharply. Ino shrugged. “Everyone’s freaked out about it. I’ve been going over reports about it for days. I figured Kakashi would have told you about it.”

“It wasn’t Shisui-sensei,” Sakura protested as if she needed to defend him.

“Do you know that?” Ino asked because as far as she knew, Shsiui hadn’t contacted Sakura since he’d left Konoha. That might have been to protect her, but Ino saw it as abandonment. She hated Shisui for it, and everything else he had put Sakura through.

“No.” Sakura admitted. “Kakashi didn’t think so.” But Sakura didn’t know. 

“Are you worried that it might be?” Ino pressed. Sakura shook her head. She looked at the short clenched in her hands.

Sakura sighed. “Kakashi...Kakashi is going to be outside of Konoha and doesn’t want me in ANBU headquarters until he gets back.”

“Really?” Ino was surprised by both of those things. Did this give Shikimaru’s bitching some kind of credence? Should Ino actually be worried about what was going to happen to Sakura? Was she in danger from Konoha? From ANBU?

“What?” Sakura demanded, crouching down.

“I’m just wondering if Kakashi’s paranoid,” Ino replied lightly. She sat up. “I’ll look into it since it worries you so much.” Ino pushed two fingers into the frown line between Sakura’s brows. “I wouldn’t want to have to look at a wrinkled face every morning.”

Sakura actually smiled at that, and she kissed Ino again. “Thank you, but don’t get into trouble over it.”

Ino snorted. “If I didn’t want to be in trouble, I wouldn’t date you.” Ino waved Sakura’s concern away. “I can handle myself, but I want a damn good date.” Sakura raised her eyebrows. “Not one at a training field.

“An actual, romantic date,” Ino insisted. “No politics, no jutsu talk, nothing but you telling me how happy you are to have a smart, sexy girlfriend. Preferably also at your apartment. I’ll pick out what I want you to wear.”

Sakura smiled. “I think I can make time for that.” Ino pretended some offense. She didn’t know if she were actually in love with Sakura. She didn’t know if she fully trusted Sakura either, but she had a special place in her chest that turned over whenever Sakura smiled like that. It was the same place that broke when Sakura struggled. The place she had thrown that first punch from when someone had called Sakura “The Bitch” in front of her.

If it wasn’t love, it was close enough for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Sakura an OC at this point? Possibly. I like to think she's being fleshed out as she deserves. Chapters are going to be slow until I wrap up Capsize (which is also suffering from writer's block). I'm also needing to canon review again to get all my plot points in order.

**Author's Note:**

> Updates will be slow. This is plot heavy stuff and I want to be sure I'm doing this monster justice. Happy readings friends.


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